Can I Claim Compensation for Emotional Distress in a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Tennessee?

A severe injury can inflict far more than just physical pain, and often the emotional repercussions of a traumatic accident can be just as debilitating and long-lasting as any physical injury. If another person’s negligence caused your injuries in Tennessee, you might wonder if the law allows you to seek compensation for the emotional distress you’ve suffered. The answer is yes, but there are several important factors to understand, and you’ll always want the help of an experienced Knoxville, TN personal injury attorney to ensure your claim has the best chance of success.

Emotional Distress as Non-Economic Damages

Emotional distress falls under the category of non-economic damages. This type of compensation differs from economic damages, which reimburse you for easily quantifiable losses like medical bills and lost wages. Non-economic damages focus on the intangible but very real consequences of an injury, such as pain and suffering, emotional trauma, loss of companionship, and diminished quality of life.

Proving Emotional Distress

Getting compensation for emotional distress can be harder than proving your tangible economic losses, as the law requires you to establish a clear link between your emotional distress and the negligent actions of another party.

This often involves providing evidence such as testimony from a mental health professional who has diagnosed you with a condition like anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a direct result of the incident. Medical records documenting your treatment for these conditions can also support your claim.

Types of Emotional Distress

Many emotional injuries can qualify for compensation in a personal injury case. Some common examples include:

• Anxiety and Depression: Constant worry, fear, sadness, and emotional turmoil.
• PTSD: Flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, and difficulty coping after a traumatic event.
• Loss of Enjoyment of Life: Inability to engage in activities or relationships you once cherished.
• Humiliation and Embarrassment: Feelings stemming from disfigurement or disability brought on by the injury.

The key with any of these types is proving the extent of the suffering and clearly linking it to the accident. You will need the help of an experienced lawyer who knows how to argue the evidence in a way that will convince the court.

Value of Emotional Distress Claims

There is no set formula for calculating the value of an emotional distress claim, and factors that a Tennessee court may consider include the severity of your emotional injuries, the impact on your daily life, whether you require ongoing psychological treatment, and the overall circumstances of the case.

Many times, the courts will use the multiplier method to figure emotional compensation. This ​is done by taking the value of your economic damages and multiplying them by a number between 1 and 5, depending on the severity of the injuries. Minor injuries would be multiplied by ​1 or ​2 with more moderate, ​serious, and devastating injuries multiplied by higher numbers.

Tennessee does a have a $750,000 cap on noneconomic damages, except in the case of very serious injuries, ​such as permanent paralysis, which ​have a cap of $1 million.

Talk With a Nashville, TN Personal Injury Attorney

If you’ve suffered a significant injury that has caused severe emotional distress, don’t wait to get help. Contact Gilreath & Associates, PLLC in Knoxville for help not only in Tennessee but anywhere in the Southeast.

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